Floating drydock



Sept. 22, 1964 FRANCIS FLOATING DRYDOCK Filed June 28, 1963 INVENTOR. [00/5 Fem 05 MM United States Patent 3,149,599 FLOATING DRYDOCK Louis Francis, 65%) NE. 64th St., Miami, Fla. Filed June 28, 1963, Ser. No. 291,314 2 Claims. (Cl. 114-53) invention it should be understood that it is particularly.

advantageous to be able to raise sunken ships such as surface ships, submarines, or the like from the ocean floor and to be able to repair the same in the immediate vicinity of their salvage. Very often, particularly in times of war or the like, it is quite diflicult to return a raised vessel to land or to a shipyard for necessary maintenance or repair. Frequently, such vessels are sunk many miles from the nearest port and towing of the same would become excessively time consuming and expensive. Therefore, it would be of great help to have means available for lifting the vessel above the water level so that workmen will have access to substantially all portions of the hull and interior thereof. Prior art devices, while providing means for raising a sunken ship from the ocean bottom, require that the majority of the vessel remain submerged and therefore precluded most repair operations.

It is a primary object of the instant invention to provide a floating drydock which will facilitate raising a sunken vessel and will support the same above water level to facilitate necessary operations on the same.

Another object of the instant invention is to provide a drydock which may be pulled under a vessel which has been raised from the ocean bottom by a salvage unit such as the device shown in my earlier patent referred to hereinabove, and which may then be readily rendered buoyant to lift the vessel above water level.

A further object of this invention is to provide a device of the type described which may be easily assembled and disassembled, the component parts being readily stored on a mother ship.

Still another object of the instant invention is to provide a floating drydock which may be assembled with portions along its length having various effective widths to more closely accommodate the particular shape or design of the sunken vessel.

Yet another object of the instant invention is to provide a floating drydock which is sturdy and durable in construction, and simple and inexpensive to manufacture, assemble, utilize, and maintain.

Other and further objects reside in the combinations of elements, arrangements of parts, and features of construction.

Still other objects will in part be obvious and in part be pointed out as the description of the invention proceeds and as shown in the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of the device of the instant invention showing a sunken vessel supported thereby in dotted lines;

FIGURE 2 is a schematic view of the device of the instant invention in operative relationship, with a vessel supported thereon being shown in dotted lines;

FIGURE 3 is a schematic view of the sunken vessel in dotted lines supported by the ocean bottom, with the salvage unit of my aforementioned patent operatively engaging the same;

FIGURE 4 is a schematic view showing the sunken vessel raised from the ocean bottom by the salvage unit in dotted lines, with the device of the instant invention underlying the same showing the conduit means extending to a mother ship floating thereabove;

3,149,599 Patented Sept. 22,, 1964 FIGURE 5 is a schematic view showing the device of the instant invention underlying a vessel being supported at the water surface by the salvage unit of my aforementioned patent;

FIGURE 6 is a schematic view showing the hull of a raised vessel supported by the floating drydock of the instant invention or showing a vessel of less width than in the other views;

FIGURE 7 is a top plan view showing a portion of the floating drydock, with parts broken away for illustrative convenience;

FIGURE 8 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken substantially on line 88 of FIGURE 7; and

FIGURE 9 is an enlarged fragmentary detail view taken substantially on line 99 of FIGURE 8, with parts broken away for illustrative clarity and convenience.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawing.

Referring now to the drawing, a floating drydock in accordance with the instant inventive concept is designated generally by the reference numeral 10 and is comprised basically of a longitudinally extending supporting member 12, drum means 14 connected to the supporting member 12 on either side thereof by arm members 16,

' conduit means 18 communicating with the interior of each of the drum means 14 and connected to a remote source of a fluid lighter than the water or sea water in which the drydock It) is to be utilized, the source (not shown) preferably being located aboard a mother ship 20 on board of which is a conventional pump or the like (not shown) for carrying the fluid through the conduit means 18 into the drum means 14.

A sunken vessel such as shown in dotted lines in FIG- URE 3 at 22 supported by the ocean floor 24 may be readily engaged by a salvage unit such as indicated at 26 of any conventional form such as shown in my aforementioned Patent No. 1,881,123. The ship 22 may then be raised from the floor 24 as explained in detail in the afore mentioned patent and the floating drydock 10 of the instant invention may be positioned therebeneath utilizing the conduit means 18 or any other cable means attached to one end of the drydock It The drydock It) may be positioned beneath the ship 22 immediately after the same.

is raised from the floor 24 as shown in FIGURE 4 or it may be positioned therebeneath when the ship 22 has been I raised to the surface 28 of the water level by the salvage unit 26 as shown in FIGURE 5.

In order to facilitate positioning the drydock 10, any

conventional spreader means indicated schematically in dotted lines at 30 in FIGURE 4 may be utilized to separate the two leads 18a and 18!) from the conduit means 18. The leads 18a and 18b communicate with one of the pairs of oppositely disposed drum means 14, the remainder of the drum means on each side being connected in series with each other through connecting conduits 18c and 18d, respectively. Any conventional valving and venting means (not shown) may be utilized in cooperation with the conduit means 18 and may be remotely controlled from the mother ship 29 to allow environmental sea water or the like to enter the drum means 14 thereby pivoting the same downwardly about the supporting mem' ber 12, or to feed the lighter fluid from the mother ship with each other. The connection between the segments should form a transversely rigid but vertically somewhat articulated elongated member.

The supporting member 12 preferably has aplurality of colineal connecting elements such as the bifurcated elements 36 which cooperate with connecting portions such as tongues 38 on one end of each arm member 16, bolt means or other such means 40 removably and pivotally securing the inboard connecting portions 38 of the arms 16 to the connecting elements 36 of the supporting member 12. The opposite or outboard ends of each arm member 16 are removably and pivotally secured in any conventional manner at 42 to the drum means 14, one drum means 14 being secured between each adjacent pair of arm members 16. Note particularly FIGURE 7.

FIGURES 1 and 6 illustrate the use of difierent length and different plan shaped, e.g. straight or bent, arm members 16, to accommodate various width sunken ships, or various portions of a sunken ship. From the standpoint of stability and increased lifting power, it is important that the drum means 14 rather closely engage the sides of the salvaged ship while maintaining the majority of the same above the water level 28. Most of the drums are mounted such that their axes are parallel to the supporting members 12, but end drums may be mounted in nonparallel relationship, as shown at the left end of FIGURE 1 wherein the axis of the drum makes an acute angle with the axis of the supporting member.

The use and operation of the device of the instant invention will now be apparent. The sunken vessel 22 is first engaged by a salvage unit such as 26 and is lifted thereby from the ocean floor 24 to any position between the floor 24- and the water surface 23. The floating drydock 10 having its drum means 14 filled with environmental water, either sea or fresh, is then towed in any conventional manner beneath the ship 22. After the drydock 10 has been positioned, a fluid lighter than the environmental water is pumped into the drum means 14 from the mother ship to replace the environmental water and to raise the ship 22 to the position shown in FIGURE 2 wherein it is maintained above the water level 28 for easy access by maintenance or repair workers.

' Once the ship 22 has been rendered buoyant or operative by fixing any leaks or holes in the hull, the drydock 10 may be readily disengaged by replacing the lighter fluid in the drum means 14 with environmental water in any conventional manner to cause the drydock 10 to sink beneath the ship 22. The drydock 1% may then be pulled onto the mother ship 20 for disassembly and storage.

The salvage unit 26 may be disengaged from the ship 22 before or after the drydock 10 has raised the same to the water level 28 so long as the drydock It has been positioned therebeneath to support the ship 22 when the salvage unit 26 is removed.

It will be readily seen that the drydock 10 may be easily disassembled and stored in a relatively small area aboard the mother ship 20. Since different length arm members 16 may be provided, and since any number of segments of supporting member 12 and any number of arm members 16 and drum means 14 may be secured together, the drydock 10 will readily accommodate any size or'shape sunken vessel 22 in an obvious manner.

It will now be seen that there is herein provided an improved floating drydock which satisfies all of the objectives of the instant invention and others, including many advantages of great practical utility and commercial impor-tance.

Since many embodiments may be made of the instant inventive concept, and since many modifications may be made of the embodiments hereinbefore shown and described, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted merely as illustrative, and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A transversely symmetrical drydock of a length to include a part of a converging bow section of a ship, a substantially constant-beam midship section, and a part of a converging stern section of a ship, and comprising (1) a longitudinal vertically articulated supporting member for the keel of a ship, including a plurality of removably pivoted segments,

(2) at least a pair of left and right colineal connecting elements secured perpendicularly through each segment,

(3) two pairs of parallel arm members colineal with each pair of connecting elements, each arm being removably and pivotally connected at its inboard end to an outboard end of a connecting element,

(4) drum means removably and pivotaliy secured at their axes between said outboard ends of each adjacent pair of arms,

(5) the pairs of arm members of the dock accommodating the miship section of a boat being of equal length whereby the drum means are coaxial and parallel to the axis or" the keel supporting member,

(6) the pairs of arm members directly longitudinally adjacent said above midship accommodating arms being of lesser length than the arms of said former midship arms whereby the adjacent drum means are parallel to the axis of the keel supporting member but closer to the latter,

(7) and at least one pair of drum accommodating arm members at each side of an end section of said keel supporting member, the distal ends of said latter arm members being bent out of the perpendicular from the supporting member and towards the adjacent converging end of a boat (8) whereby said axes of the latter recited drums make an acute angle with the ends of the axis of the keel supporting member, and all the drums present close peripheral contact with the horizontal contour of a boat at or below the region of change in direction of the vertical trace of the skin of the ship from vertical to inclined or vertical to horizontal.

2. The structure of the drydock of claim 1 and also including (1) a pressurized source of fluid lighter than water,

(2) conduit means from said pressurized source communicating with the interior of each of said drums,

(3) and further conduit means for preventing the undesired inflow of water into said drums.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 87,291 Richardson Feb. 23, 1869 1,416,754 Reno May 23, 1922 2,291,078 Harris July 28, 1942 2,829,615 Petrausky Apr. 8, 1958 

1. A TRANSVERSELY SYMMETRICAL DRYDOCK OF A LENGTH TO INCLUDE A PART OF A CONVERGING BOW SECTION OF A SHIP, A SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT-BEAM MIDSHIP SECTION, AND A PART OF A CONVERGING STERN SECTION OF A SHIP, AND COMPRISING (1) A LONGITUDINAL VERTICALLY ARTICULATED SUPPORTING MEMBER FOR THE KEEL OF A SHIP, INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF REMOVABLY PIVOTED SEGMENTS, (2) AT LEAST A PAIR OF LEFT AND RIGHT COLINEAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS SECURED PERPENDICULARLY THROUGH EACH SEGMENT, (3) TWO PAIRS OF PARALLEL ARM MEMBERS COLINEAL WITH EACH PAIR OF CONNECTING ELEMENTS, EACH ARM BEING REMOVABLY AND PIVOTALLY CONNECTED AT ITS INBOARD END TO AN OUTBOARD END OF A CONNECTING ELEMENT, (4) DRUM MEANS REMOVABLY AND PIVOTALLY SECURED AT THEIR AXES BETWEEN SAID OUTBOARD ENDS OF EACH ADJACENT PAIR OF ARMS, (5) THE PAIRS OF ARM MEMBERS OF THE DOCK ACCOMMODATING THE MISHIP SECTION OF A BOAT BEING OF EQUAL LENGTH WHEREBY THE DRUM MEANS ARE COAXIAL AND PARALLEL TO THE AXIS OF THE KEEL SUPPORTING MEMBER, (6) THE PAIRS OF ARM MEMBERS DIRECTLY LONGITUDINALLY ADJACENT SAID ABOVE MIDSHIP ACCOMMODATING ARMS BEING OF LESSER LENGTH THAN THE ARMS OF SAID FORMER MIDSHIP ARMS WHEREBY THE ADJACENT DRUM MEANS ARE PARALLEL TO THE AXIS OF THE KEEL SUPPORTING MEMBER BUT CLOSER TO THE LATTER, (7) AND AT LEAST ONE PAIR OF DRUM ACCOMMODATING ARM MEMBERS AT EACH SIDE OF AN END SECTION OF SAID KEEL SUPPORTING MEMBER, THE DISTAL ENDS OF SAID LATTER ARM MEMBERS BEING BENT OUT OF THE PERPENDICULAR FROM THE SUPPORTING MEMBER AND TOWARDS THE ADJACENT CONVERGING END OF A BOAT (8) WHEREBY SAID AXES OF THE LATTER RECITED DRUMS MAKE AN ACUTE ANGLE WITH THE ENDS OF THE AXIS OF THE KEEL SUPPORTING MEMBER, AND ALL THE DRUMS PRESENT CLOSE PERIPHERAL CONTACT WITH THE HORIZONTAL CONTOUR OF A BOAT AT OR BELOW THE REGION OF CHANGE IN DIRECTION OF THE VERTICAL TRACE OF THE SKIN OF THE SHIP FROM VERTICAL TO INCLINED OR VERTICAL TO HORIZONTAL. 